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OSC-Springfield Now Links Directly to Third Frontier Network

Point-to-point connection fastest in the state

Point-to-point connection fastest in the state

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- December 13, 2005 -- The Ohio Supercomputer Center's Springfield branch now has the fastest connection to the Third Frontier Network (TFN) in the state of Ohio. OSC-Springfield (OSC-S) has a 10-gigabit (Gb) connection to the nation's leading high-speed superscale research fiber-optic network.

OSC-S will use the TFN for production and development support to the Internet for data management, large-scale data mining, climate modeling, nanotechnology and bioinformatics research and storage.

OSC-S employees and users will have faster access to the supercomputers' storage infrastructure at the State of Ohio Computing Center (SOCC) in Columbus. OSC users in Columbus will also have better access to collaborate with OSC-S and other regional users on high performance computing (HPC) projects.

"We are looking forward to experimenting and discovering what OSC-Springfield can achieve with such a high-speed network," said Kevin Wohlever, OSC-S project leader. "With 10 Gb, OSC-Springfield will have the fastest point-to-point network in the state. Such a large storage capacity is equivalent to many of the national network backbones."

TFN was deployed in 2004 by OARnet, OSC's networking division. TFN's 1,600-mile backbone connects more than 90 of the state's campuses, their business partners, federal labs, hospitals and K-12 schools. Nearly all of Ohio's colleges and universities are using the TFN fiber-optic backbone, with more than 30 higher education institutions having direct access via last-mile connections.

The network is also connected to Internet2, a national high performance backbone network for advanced networking application development.

About OSC-SpringfieldOSC-S is an extension of the Columbus-based Ohio Supercomputer Center, founded in 1987 by the Ohio Board of Regents. OSC's mission is to foster technology, education and computer networking among Ohio's colleges and universities. Temporary OSC-S offices are currently located adjacent to Springfield City Hall. OSC-S plans to move into permanent housing at the Prime Ohio Corporate Park by summer 2006.

About TFNTFN is the most advanced high-speed, fiber-optic network dedicated to higher education in the nation. An Ohio Board of Regents' initiative, TFN works with government, academic and industry partners to position the state of Ohio as a world leader in networking technology and the knowledge economy. For more information on TFN, please visit www.tfn.oar.net.